A specialized course in Hebei Province has combined regular academics with ski instruction over the winter, according to an article by China Daily. Called the Zhangjiakou Youth Winter Olympic Games School, the program aims to nurture winter sports stars that will represent China in the future.
Managed by the Xuanhua No. 2 Middle School, the program provides free intensive alpine skiing and snowboarding training, along with regular school subjects, to 48 students.
Ski instruction took place during the daytime at the Changchengling Ski Resort, while academic classes took place in the evening, according to Sun Yongqing, school principal of Xuanhua No. 2 Middle School.
Composed of male and female students from all over the country, the class began instruction in November, just in time for the beginning of the ski season in China.
"At the end of March, they can return home to enjoy a holiday and then come back to school for general knowledge classes until next ski season," said Sun in an interview with China Daily.
Because of the unique combination of physical and academic activities, most students have expressed their desires to stay at the school during the holiday break, said Guo Jiyong, the school's full-time student supervisor.
On the other hand, some students experienced bouts of homesickness, struggling to adjust to the skiing and academic schedules. Other students also worry ski training will interfere with their studies.
"At first, I couldn't get the skiing skills, and I worried that training might give me less time for learning," said Li Wenqing, a 14-year-old student. "It was all messy and tangled. I couldn't handle it."
Ski instruction was overseen by four elite skiers with competition-level experience. One of them was Liu Yang, who also has experience as ski instructor for four years under his belt. According to Liu, most kids of Li's age have troubles adjusting to new challenges.
"All of them are learning from scratch and the nature of the training sessions caused some upset. But they are also curious about new things and can learn the skills quickly," said Liu.
The Zhangjiakou Youth Winter Olympic Games School is the first of its kind in China.